I bought a Holden!

[buggerlugs]

Hey , great pick up. I've had my HZ ute on the road for 6 months now ( just got it back from the panelbeaters after the host of the Bathurst weekends missus backed into it ). Mine is a factory 253 , 4 speed with all the goodies, GTS dash, seats, trim , power steering , air con and LSD. Me and the dogs love it and it has the sweetest note.........Have fun.......... I paid 3k for mine and spent about another 6 or 7 on it, Couldn't help myself..............
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11389990

[ebv8]

i just sold my 253 4speed powered commodore, its was dead stock apart from extractors and single 2.5in system and it sounded very nice, it was smooth reving and propelled the VH wagon to 100km just as fast as my VX commodore which is pretty good.
they respond well with a cam and a bit more compression too.
mine was also ok on fuel so if tuned right they are no worse than anything else

holden lost their ***** after 1979 bringing the commodore out i'm sure a few more ford supporters would have holdens if they continued with the kingswood development.

p.s. my dad bought himself a WB tonner last year and rebuilt it for his daily driver (but he never drives it so one day i might get it cheap)

[Mainlube]

mcnews send me about 70 mils of oil from your gearbox with 5 minutes of turning the engine off and I'll have a (free) look on how your box is handling the 253.

I started my app. in 72 at the Holden dealer, saw allot of on these old moles,

253 is great for a cruiser, can spin a nice note.

Cheers

Steve

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by wildrider

also a 253 is more reliable the 308 ever were. I reckon the 308 would be one of the most overrated motors ever

huh.. please explain how one is more reliable than the other

clean example, $3k is good score Trev

[GREGL]

A 253 is deemed more reliable because a lower % are used as a base for performance mods . Before chevs were readily available that is all the holden camp had to compete with . However 308's were known to eat valves ( or the seats can't quite remember on high mileage 100 k plus red motors , which was corrected to a degree in the later blue ) .
I always wished they could have a ford v8 and driveline in a holden body back then . Power and reliability without the rust issues of the X series. Not to mention the ease of changing points etc. and 4 wheel disc brakes if you were lucky .
Great buy McNews , for the money you can't go wrong . 5 speed Toyota boxes were as robust as the m20/m21 and a LOT sweeter shifters to boot ! ( I.e you won't kill your synchos as quick LOL ) The 180 bhp that the little 253 isn't going to stress the box at all .

[mcnews]

Cheers mate, before driving it I was already looking at options to turf the donk. But it would be criminal, it runs so amazingly well, truly, it is such a sweet running donk, pretty much faultless really. I would be just tearing up money for no reason in turfing it, spending a load of money etc. for no reason, this thing will never be about power and times, I am just not interested in heading down that path with it.

[nstg8a]

I've had a few old falcons with those supra boxes, and really, unless its a high hp motor, the only things that kill them is sheer abuse, or loading up 5th gear. Ford should have done a deal with Toyota and used them instead of the t5s.

More pics......

[GREGL]

When your ready to part with it P.M me , lol . I'm not kidding a rust free ute of that era is gold , parting it out would give you a profit but sacrilege . Hope you enjoy it .

[buggerlugs]

Originally Posted by mcnews

Cheers mate, before driving it I was already looking at options to turf the donk. But it would be criminal, it runs so amazingly well, truly, it is such a sweet running donk, pretty much faultless really. I would be just tearing up money for no reason in turfing it, spending a load of money etc. for no reason, this thing will never be about power and times, I am just not interested in heading down that path with it.

Wait till all the blokes come up to you and say "I had one of them".....

[mcnews]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

Wait till all the blokes come up to you and say "I had one of them".....

I had that with my concours winning 39,000 mile E49. They must have made a million of them :-)

[ryeman]

The 253 was a de-stroked 5L wasn't it to answer the fuel crisis of the 70s IIR.
Short strokers (rare these days) are sweet revers.

[flooded one]

Originally Posted by ryeman

The 253 was a de-stroked 5L wasn't it to answer the fuel crisis of the 70s IIR.
Short strokers (rare these days) are sweet revers.

development of the 253 started 10 years before that

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/holden_253_v8.htm

[mcnews]

Well got the machine home today. Runs sweet as. Found out putting fuel in a WB ute is an exercise in frustration. The tyres are old, have good tread, but must be hard as nails as there was some sliding going on during the trip home (wet). I know nothing about Holdens really, the majority of my knowledge is old Mopar. Can someone tell me if that diff must have been transplanted from something else, as the large wings with holes near the main housing are a little confusing to me, as they serve no purpose in this application. I will get further under the car to try and work out later what model Supra five speed is in it. Pulled the air cleaner off, look like a Quadrajet carby to me. Can't tell the brand of headers but they are lovely looking design, really long runners and stay twin for a long way down the car on each side before going in to the twin system. It truly sound great, honestly one of the nicest sounding Holdens I reckon I have ever heard, so many have a huge system that just sounds crap, this really has a beautiful timbre to it. I presume those leaf springs with the extra supports must make this a one tonner?

[pottery beige]

not sure if its out of something else, little bit down on the left looks same??

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=s...w=1366&bih=658

[mcnews]

Maybe a casting that the sedans used but the utes just didn't bother with, but they all used the same housing?

[pottery beige]

i'm no holden diff guru sounds about right

looks to original to have been messed around with

[ryeman]

Is it a Rochester carby?
In that era, Holden restricted breathing for reliability.

[mcnews]

Looks like a Rochester Quadrajet to me. Small primaries, large secondaries, bit like a Thermoquad used on V8 Fords. This at a quess would be a 625 Quadrajet.

[buggerlugs]

Looks like you have a similar exhaust/muffler set up as mine. No wonder it sounds so sweet. Music to your ears eh............

[flooded one]

your diff by the looks of it is a 10 bolt Salisbury diff. WBs came out with these. yours is the larger one fitted to V8 versions and all one tonners. the 6 cylinder panelvans and styleside had the smaller (baby Salisbury) diff. its smaller then that and more rounder. I'd say the carby is a quadrajet. looks familiar to me and blue 253s did come out with them

the red back spider gear knob is sweet!!

[1TUFFUTE]

I read the thread but I'll be honest....I literaly hAte these things....sorry

[desGT]

The enthusiasm is fantastic - nice buy, to a good home!

[damo6]

Yes the guys are correct. That's a Rochester qaud, probably a 625 cfm or possibly a 680 as found on 308's.excellent carby but a bugger to tune if you don't know much about them, yep that's a salsbury lsd 10 bolt diff,they normally had a tag on the plug with the ratio etc stamped on it but yours is missing,if its a factory manual its more than likely a 3.08 or 3.27 ratio. The extra leafs were an option that were commonly found in the country packs but these may have been added later.one tonners were a cab chassis with a full chassis,style sides like yours are a 3/4 chassis from the firewall back.a not commonly known rust area is up behind the seats underneath the car between the tray and bulkhead,they go right along there and under the back window along the bulk head, yours looks sweet though. I was brought up on these mate and have worked on or wrecked plenty over the years.HZ/WB are my faves .

[[Buckets]]

nice score mate, i'd love something like this as a project car. Holden or not, it's an old school ute and they're always head turners!

[Grippy]

It looks great, I reckon you've done really well for $3k.

[SantoAU]

it's a steal at $3k.

[ZGM86]

Very nice looking old ute and such a bargain! Makes me miss my old yellow WB pano.

[GREGL]

In the late 80's I bought a WB one tonner from the place I was working for at the time and in the process of registering it in Qld had to replace all the suspension and steering parts that wear out save for the springs themselves for the roadie . At the time it was dead standard as per factory and for the life of me I don't recall those extra 2 bottom leaves that you have on it ! Me thinks they are helper springs that were available from a Pedders type shop of that era . I could be wrong here but I was under that car for a fair while bitching and swearing about the dealer who supposedly maintained it for the prior 7 yrs . All bushes including the upper and lower control arm ones was rooted , balljoints , tie rods and idler arm as well . My first experience of dealer care or lack of.
The car was rust free and well worth the effort though , drove like new afterwards however it didn't have the gts dash that to this day I still lust after . When I had my XR8 ute for sale and no bites I was willing to trade ( or swap )a one tonner Hq-Wb that's how much I like them .

[zilo]

Originally Posted by Express

My opinion:

A stock 253 is as slow as a wet week.

.

What in the hell is a wet week?

Do you mean wet WICK?

[stevz]

Originally Posted by zilo

What in the hell is a wet week?

Do you mean wet WICK?

7 days with a lot of rain.